Rob Ford going public with bomb threat results in grievance filed by city workers’ union

The union representing 20,000 workers at the City of Toronto is filing a grievance over what it’s calling a “complete breakdown” of city protocol when Mayor Rob Ford went public on Monday with a bomb threat emailed to his brother, councillor Doug Ford.

Tim Maguire, president of CUPE Local 79, said the mayor was “irresponsible” to hold a scrum outside his office, during which he spoke of the threat. He said the mayor put City Hall employees and visitors to the building at risk by speaking publicly.

“This crosses a line when people’s health and safety, when their state of mind when they’re trying to deliver service to Torontonians is interrupted by this irresponsible handling of a threat like this,” said Mr. Maguire.

Mayor Ford says he would not have done anything differently.

“When there’s a bomb threat, you gotta let the people in the city know what happens,” he told reporters Friday. “What happens if you don’t say anything and if there is a bomb and there is an explosion?

“Then the first thing they’d say is ‘He knew about it, he didn’t warn anyone.’”

The City of Toronto’s Bomb Threat and Suspicious Package Response Policy asks that public employees “not make any comments to any members of the public or media regarding any threat or evacuation at any City of Toronto facility” and that the situation should be kept calm “for the safety of employees and the public.”

The mayor said he was acting on instruction from police. “I talked to police. They came into my office. ‘Should I go out and talk to the media?’” he says he asked. Mayor Ford says police responded: “Yes, do exactly that.”

Toronto Police dispute Mayor Ford’s claim.

“Those officers were asked by their supervisors as to their conversation and those officers’ recollection of the conversation differs,” said spokesperson Const. Victor Kwong.

Mr. Maguire told the National Post later on Friday that he didn’t believe “there would have been any criticism for not going to the media.”

“The criticism is not telling the other appropriate authorities and having them handle it appropriately,” he said. “If there was an actual credible threat, the authorities would have investigated that and determined that and hopefully in an orderly fashion work with management and work with worker representatives to ensure that people were evacuated.”

The mayor said on Monday that he was acting on his own advice to “keep people aware” by disclosing the threat.

Mayor Ford showed the email received by his brother to the media, which stated that he “has 12 hours to vacate otherwise city hall will blow,” and that “I have already set up an explosive around.”

“Here’s the message: You have 24 hours to vacatge [sic] city hall. You and your brother. No fuss, no argument, no whinning [sic] no nothing. If you walk everything is fine but if you ignore this warning, cityt [sic] hall will disappear from this map and believe me, I am not joking,” the email continued.

A second threat was delivered to the mayor’s office the following day, according to police.

Mr. Maguire said City Hall employees were “wondering what to do” as a result of the mayor’s press scrum and many left the building in response, which the city’s safety policy allows them to do.

“If the protocol isn’t followed then there could be chaos and pandemonium around people reacting with passion rather than rationally to a threat like this,” he said. “We also want to make sure that people that are issuing these threats…aren’t emboldened to get the kind of attention they might be looking for.”

He said the union believes there could be further violations by city officials in handling the threat. The union is asking the Ministry of Labour to investigate the city’s response and whether the current policy needs adjustment to better protect public employees.

City spokesperson Wynna Brown said city staff are reviewing how the threat was handled and will report their findings to City Hall’s Joint Health and Safety Committee.

“With regard to this incident City staff responded professionally and responsibly,” she said in an emailed statement.

“Nevertheless, as is our practice, we are conducting a debrief of the incident and our response to determine whether any improvements or changes are required….If there is a Ministry of Labour complaint or union grievance, we will respond as appropriate in those forums.”

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